Why do peoplc care if a falling tree made a noise? One should be asking why the tree fell in the first place. What I found interesting about this tree was that it fell with no warning, on a calm day. There was no way one could predict the failure of the tree. However, upon further analysis there are several factors that could have led to the failure of the tree.
Upon examining the rootball (or lack thereof), it's obvious that this once handsome red oak suffered from major root issues. Instead of uprooting which is characteristic of trees that still have some semblance of a healthy root system, every root just snapped.
Let's have a closer look. Clearly this tree has been having some issues for a while. The white substance is fungus. Whether it was pathogenic or was just an opportunistic fungus is hard to determine. It it no doubt contributed to the decline in the structural integrity of the roots.
Another contributing factor could be the the severe drought that we had last year. Since trees are such large organisms, they respond on a longer timescale. In short, it takes longer for them to show stress or die. The drought could have stressed the tree and the wet winter allowed for the roots to rot out enough for the tree to fall. Another possible factor is recent road construction. If one looks back at the first photo, the pavement closest to the tree is darker which means that it is newer. What happened under the pavement is unknown but if they did any digging it would have affected the tree. Fortunately this tree fell on a closed road at a quiet part of the day, only causing damage to the wooden railing. Although this tree has fallen, it is my hope that another one will be able to take advantage of the hole in the canopy. Normally, the fallen tree would be home to insects and animals for decades as it decays but seeing that it is blocking a road, it probably will be removed soon.
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